Technique Thursday ~ Embossing powders

How do embossing powders work?

• Create your image using a Rubber Stamp with Versamark ink or Versamark Embossing Pen
• Work quickly as the ink must stay wet while the powder is applied.
• Sprinkle the embossing powder over the entire area to be raised.
• The powder needs to stick to the ink so it is important that the ink is still sticky.
• Remove the excess powder by tapping the sheet and letting it fall back into the container.
• Stray traces of powder on areas that are not to be raised can be brushed off or wiped away carefully.
• Heat the powder with a heat gun, being careful to apply even heat to the whole area.
• Move the gun around so as not to over heat or burn the paper.
• The powder will melt and leave a raised finish.
• It will take a few seconds to solidify so do not touch the molten powder too quickly!

Technique Thursday

EMBOSS RESIST Directions: 1) Stamp and heat emboss your image. Allow image to cool. 2) Apply ink directly to the paper (over and around the embossed image) using a sponge or brayer. 3) Wipe the embossed image with a tissue to remove the excess ink. Variation: watercolor resist 1) Once you've embossed an image, scribble around and over the image using a Watercolor Wonder Crayon, and blend using an Aqua Painter. Wipe the color from the embossed image, and allow to dry completely.

DIY embossing buddy

Here is how you can make your own embossing buddy to prevent static build up on your papers. Use a baby sock or doubled up piece of tights or popsock. Add three tablespoons of cornstarch or talcum powder. Secure with a rubber band. Also you could use a tumble dryer conditioning sheet instead of the embossing buddy.

How to use embossing powder

Embossing adds an elegant, dimensional element to any stamped image. It may look difficult, but is in fact one of the most popular and effective rubber-stamping techniques of all.

The secret is to use a heat gun, a quality pigment inkpad, deeply-etched rubber stamps and good cardstock - and take the inkpad to the stamp. Most errors in embossing happen due to unevenly inked images.

Applying ink

The best way to apply ink to the stamp is to lay the stamp on its back, rubber side up, then dab or pat with the ink pad. This way it is easy to apply a thin even coat of ink.

Apply the inked stamp to the cardstock and press down firmly. Try not to rock the stamp (which will result in a blurred image). Some people find it easiest to stand whilst stamping as they get better pressure. Remove the stamp, and apply embossing powder immediately. Pour a generous amount of embossing powder all over the image. (The trick is to get the powder onto the stamped image before it dries. Pigment ink is a slow-drying ink, and gives you enough time to do this.)

Turn the stamped image over and tap the back of the card to remove any excess embossing powder. Keeping a piece of scrap paper under the cardstock helps to catch any excess, and makes it easier to the powder back into its pot to use next time.

Tip

Adding extra embossing powder will not help the image to be any shiner etc. Powder will only stick to the wet ink, so always tip away any excess powder as it will only result in a fuzzy, blotched image.
Don't blow excess powder away - it will go all over the card and your breath will moisten it. There is also a danger you could blow powder off the inked image.

Embossing

Apply heat - use a designated heat tool/embossing gun. There are several on the market. If you don't have a heat gun, you may use a paint-stripping gun (but be careful not to set the cardstock alight). Otherwise, heat from below: wave the cardstock over an electric hotplate, or turn an electric toaster on and wave the card over the opening. Mind your fingers (and if using a toaster, do NOT place the card inside it!) If the card is a little wavy/distorted after heating, allow it to cool down and weigh under some heavy books - it will flatten again.

Using a heat tool (if at all possible - it really does make a difference to the result) aim it at one area of the powdered image. The heat will affect the powder: it will change colour, become shiny or sparkly (depending on what powder you have used). As soon as one area has changed colour, move your heat gun to the next area and so on. This is called "chasing" the image. Don't wave the heat gun all over the card - all you are doing is heating the entire card and the image will take forever to emboss properly.

Cleanup

Never wash a rubber stamp under the tap. Either use a designated stamp cleaner, a stamp scrubbing pad (just run under the tap, and wiggle the dirty stamp over the fibres to clean - then dry on kitchen roll) or dampen a pad of kitchen roll and wipe over the stamp. Filthy and clogged stamps can be cleaned with an old toothbrush - dampened with water or stamp cleaner. Rinse off by wiping with damp kitchen roll, an old flannel or towel, then dry with kitchen roll

Alchol-free baby wipes are excellent for cleaning stamps, hands, and also to remove most inks from the top of the stamp (the wood block). Finish by blotting with kitchen roll.

F.A.Q.s

• Q: Why is my stamped image uneven - more inky in some places?
• A: Did you hold the stamp in your hand when inking it? This results in uneven application every time! Always place the stamp rubber-side upwards, flat on a hard surface and then ink up. The application will be even, and you can also check there are no missed areas.

• Q: Does size matter?
• A: Not in ink pads! Inking a stamp rubber-side up means you can use any size or shape of ink pad: Option Plates, Petal Points, Cats Eyes, mini Versacolour pads etc.

• Q: Can I use a hairdryer to emboss?
• A: No. A hairdryer is not hot enough to melt the embossing powder (pigments suspended in a polymer base) and will only blow the powder away.

• Q: Does the ink need to be the same colour as the embossing powder?
• A: No. The embossing powder is always the colour that you will see - so you could use pink pigment ink and gold embossing powder, and the result will be gold. Green pigment ink and black sparkle powder? The result will be black sparkle. If you want to emboss and also see the colour of the ink, then choose clear embossing powder as the colour will show through.

Trouble shooting

• Q: The image looks "greasy".
• A: This is because you heated it too long, and the powder has started to sink back into the card.

• Q: The image is "grainy" and feels rough; some grains have fallen off.
• A: You haven't heated the powder long enough.

• Q: There are "speckles" of excess powder on the card, not just on the image.
• A: Certain types of paper and card are very static (eg: vellums and glossy card) and you may notice little dots of embossing powder on the card. Wipe the card over with an Anti-static Pad or a used tumble dryer sheet before you start to eliminate the problem. Alternatively, use a dry fine paintbrush to dust away any excess.

Versamark ideas

VERSAMARK IDEAS

A TRULY CLEAR EMBOSSING PAD

Use like you would the Top Boss. Just stamp and emboss with colored powder or clear powder for a see through shine.

A WATERMARK

This is great for backgrounds, it will deepen the shade of coloured paper wherever you stamp. Just think about this, for every colour of paper you own, you now have a complementary colour of ink!

POPPIN’ PASTELS

There are a couple of ways to accomplish this effect on light colored card stocks.

1.) Apply chalks to the area to be stamped, stamp with VersaMark and allow to dry or use heat gun. Then rub gently with a clean cotton ball. You can get a dramatic effect by adding more chalk to a cotton ball or dauber after you stamped with the VersaMark. Or you can emboss while stamped image is still wet with clear embossing powder and the image will jump out at you!

2.) Stamp first then chalk gently over the stamped area and watch the image magically appear.

REVERSE PASTELS

This time you use brightly coloured chalk to cover dark coloured card stock (Basic Black, Night of Navy, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, etc.) and then stamp over the chalked area. The ink will pull out the colour of the paper from beneath the chalk. Be sure to clean the stamp before re-inking it as the chalk you removed is now on your stamp and you will dirty your VersaMark pad.

SHADOWING

This is a technique to use with Kaleidacolor pads and word stamps but you can use it for anything really. Just stamp directly over your first image. Because you will seldom be exact you will make a shadow that gives the initial image a 3-D effect. You can even take it a step further and emboss with a transparent powder like Pearl or Iridescent Ice.

BRAYER RESIST

This technique can be done with Gold Encore or VersaMark. Stamp image(s) onto Glossy White card stock using one of the above inks. Gently wipe away the ink using a lotion-free tissue and small circular motion. Ink up your brayer and roll it over the paper. Wherever the VersaMark ink was stamped, the paper will resist the coloured ink from your brayer. This works on matte card stock but looks better on glossy.

VERSAMARK & 2-STEP STAMPIN’

Stamp the same image first with VersaMark & then with metallic (Encore). Just shift the image a little bit when stamping the metallic ink. It gives it a shadowed look. Looks great on baroque burgundy and forest foliage!

EMBOSSING ON GLASS

Using the embossing buddy first, then using the VersaMark to stamp the image on a glass container, then emboss with detail gold or silver. Fill it with candy and tie a ribbon on it.

EMBOSSING WITH YOUR 48 STAMPIN’ UP! PADS

Ink your stamp with VersaMark then stamp on one of our 48 color pads or you can use a dauber to apply the color ink if you are worried about the color pad. Stamp and use clear embossing powder. Heat. Now you can emboss and be perfectly coordinated with the SU! markers, cardstock and inkpads. Be certain to clean stamp before re-inking on VersaMark pad or you will leave color on it.

DISCREET JOURNALING LINES

Although the VersaMark ink is sticky when applied, it dries like regular ink and loses the stickiness. It is Acid-free and safe for scrapbook pages. It works perfectly on all of our colored cardstock.

BATIK TECHNIQUE

Simply stamp your image using Versamark on ultra-smooth white or confetti or some other light CS and then emboss with clear embossing powder. Let cool. Then gently wad paper into a ball or you could fold it into a small square for a different look. Unfold it and smooth it out. Place it on a towel and wet with water so the paper is very damp. Next ink your brayer with a Kaleidacolor pad and brayer across the paper. The image will stay white while the ink will seep into cracks and the rest of the paper will have a batik look. (Like back in the 70’s when you applied wax to a pattern on a shirt and then dipped it in dye, cooled and chipped the wax away.)